Emails Ahoy

Emails are really important in the energy industry. So as well as sending them automatically, you can now keep track of them!

Customers have been saying it to me for years, but it has never really sunk in. But having woken up dreaming about coding, I think it’s time to admit the fact that I am turning into a geek. Then again, speak with many of my ex colleagues and they would probably say I’ve been heading that direction for years. When I set up UtilityClick with a co-nerd (sorry Andy, but not everyone wants to hear about non-energy forecasts), I knew there was a danger I would lose what little coolness I had, and would become engaged to some extent in software design, C# and web hosting. I just didn’t realise it would go this far. I partly blame our excellent development team for this, encouraging me to immerse myself in the thousands of lines of SQL scripts and source code that we improve each month. But secretly, I really do love it.

We’re more than half way through our August build, and the features we’re adding this month seem even more exciting than those we’ve introduced already this year. But even though the paint hasn’t dried on the list of enhancements we’re releasing a few weeks from now, I can’t stop getting excited about some of the things bobbing along on the UtilityClick horizon. One of these features is Email Tracking. I can tell you’re starting to get intoxicated at the very thought of it!

Our system already sends emails. Oh boy it does. In fact, it likes nothing more than connecting to our customers’ SMTP servers and firing off messages to suppliers and customers alike (on request, of course). Attachments? Yep: from day one, the platform has automatically built portfolio information stored in the database and feeding this information to those who need it, to get contracts locked down quicker (and with far less hassle).

But we’ve always known that something has been missing. Email servers are not foolproof: passwords expire on a regular basis, emails can’t always be routed correctly to their destination, and sometimes – they just need a good hard dose of switch-it-off-and-on-again. We solved this problem originally by providing an automatic BCC function, to send to you any emails sent to your contacts. But why not integrate the tracking of emails into the system itself?

It would be a little bit of magic to be able to automatically categorise every email sent, link emails sent to the customer and supplier data already in the system, resend emails when you want to give someone a nudge and keep on top of your outbound traffic with that little bit more confidence. That’s exactly what we’re doing, and it’s free to all of our customers.

Because of the way we’ve built the UtilityClick platform, it’s just another example of a customer request becoming a reality, and we’re introducing email tracking as soon as we’re confident it’s working like a charm. And why am I telling you all this now?

Because I absolutely love it, that’s why!

About the author

Rod Westwood

Rod’s industry experience stems from a decade working in business consultancy specialising in the global oil & gas industry. During this time, he has provided commercial and market expertise to support finance raising and equity investments totalling in excess of $10 billion for clients in more than 50 countries. His passion for technology & energy go hand in hand in the development of the UtilityClick software platform.